A Greater Evil
by Necros79
Summary: Grado is in ruins, taken and plagued by the seemingly endless presence of darkness. The conqueror has set his gaze on the whole of Magvel, and starts with the innocent town of Izumo...


**Chapter 1 **

1 long week had passed from the Siege of Grado.

Grado. It was a place fitting for a ruler like myself. I leaned from the balcony before me and let the breeze course through my hair as if it were a human hand. . It was a beautiful sight, seeing the entire stretch of the empire right before my eyes. The forest trees huddled together as the wind whispered through their leaves upon the horizon. The sky was painted by a palette of deep oranges and reds and tainted the plains below it in a bloody sort of red. The shadows of my men twitched and quivered in its passing light as they gathered at the Keep's entrance. Perfect. I wanted this quick and simple. And with my troops already on their way, it looked like I was going to get it.

I turned from the balcony, having had enough of the evening's chill, and followed the door that left from behind the wide alcove. To be fair, I still wasn't used to the layout of Grado Keep. The corridors all looked the same to me; just blurs of stone and little lights that caught the corners of my eye as I walked past. Of course that wasn't really what they were. My first proper inspection of the castle's beauty. I was dazzled. The walls were of ebony stone and were faced with paintings with golden, swirling frames and torches that gleamed like rubies. A wooden spiral staircase followed my descent and the doors of the Keep parted with my very request.

The outside breeze was the first thing that hit me as it brushed my cheeks. I held my grey furred robe from knee height and I felt the sides of my mane quiver in the passing breeze like a candle down my shoulders. And there they were, stationed 200 by 200. Grado's finest, attiring the same red tunics before their armour and with weapons high in the air. I could see the tidy rows of soldiers and mages at the front and then the cold airs of Wyverns and Knights towards the back. I dropped my robes and let them nestle to the floor. I eyed each man carefully. They wore the same drained smiles, like colourless blankets swept across each of their faces. The perfect troops. I felt a smile trickle across my lips.

**-Troops, Comrades! Soldiers of Grado! **

I heard a murmur softly rise from my men. It sounded uncertain and I raised an eyebrow.

**I sense anxiety, Comrades. But I don't blame you. I am your new Emperor. And I know what you're thinking. **

I paced along the porch before my army and swept my dark hair back with my hand. It was hot and I felt it moist against my brow as I cleared the strands that leaked from my forehead.

**You're all thinking about me. My empire. My ambitions that you all think have clogged my mind. **

I eyed a group of nods from the front rows of men and smiled.

**You know little. Tidy away your feeble little resistances and serve as you would your former. My men still scourge this castle and country and even one of your puny little homes. And I assure you. They number you by many. So draw your swords! Raise your spears! And beckon the scent of death to the land that falls north! **

I rose my voice, far above from the snarl of past but now to a shout.

**To Renais, my soldiers! Wasted life will not be tolerated! MOVE OUT! **

The men roared as they raised their weapons to the skies. I saw their blades glint like fireflies in the open air against the Sun's final rays. They turned and assembled with their generals leading from the front, doggedly barking orders to line them correctly. I headed back for the Keep and stopped. I don't know what it was. It was like some misguided echo in the back of my mind, like a gunshot against the tranquillity of the land. My head cautiously peered from the peak of my shoulder. Arrows. Thousands of them. Raining down on my men like a hailstorm.

**RETREAT! RETREAT! **

I heard the cries of my men silence by each passing minute. The front lines had been completely devastated, each rotted corpse smothered in mud and their own blood. I felt a bead of sweat cling to my forehead, like a cobweb to the corner of an old wall. How could this have happened? I couldn't ponder. I left my robes to rest on the platform on which I had previously stood and ran through the large brass doors. I could feel the hysteria building, like some viral infection that escaped into the air. I clambered up the carpeted staircase to its peak and let the heavy air catch my lungs once more. I wondered how my Wyverns were coping. How my Knights would counter the situation they were now in. And I heard it. The crack that sent my heart plunging into my stomach like a child into a bleak abyss. I could see all of their faces, grim, messy and scared through the ominous slash of metal. Sunlight spilled from the wound. I had to make an escape. And fast.

The wails of my Wyverns drew to a close. They were dead, every one of them. Even those in the royal stables had been selected for war and had withered with the rest like daisies in the battlefield. And so, I felt the tome hard and cold against my hands as I withdrew it from my ebony tunic. My hair swayed from my shoulders into a single tail and the tome opened under my request. It was of an old, darkened texture, with white web-like patterns on each cover and small, arcane messaging carefully written on each calico scroll.

I took a deep breath, letting the stench of death that carried in the air brush against my throat. There was a snap. Then a thud. I felt my heart leap out of place with a twisted jump. My eyes rolled back from within the book. They were here.

They trampled over the crumpled door in a stampede. Light shot through the opening like a bullet. I could see every thousand of their faces, clouded in the faintest of shadows, all with messy fringes in brown, blonde and each and every tint between. I could sense their hunger. I was theirs. Supposedly defenceless, just standing there, caged deep within the confines of my own terror. What felt like a smile snaked across my sullen face. They were confused, it was written all over their faces in dull, blackened ink. I thrust the tome to my chest and let the words of the Rite escape from my lips into the death-laden air. There was a tremor, so sudden in its presence, the men at the entrance felt their balances dwindle. A column slowly arose from the floor of shadow and smoke, little dark particles frolicking around it in a slow, seemingly endless cycle. I could feel it, coursing through my veins, and pushing my body into the air. It had been a while since I had last performed the Rite. But I loved it, the power it gave me, the rush it sent spiralling up my spine. And then it drew to a close, the column snapping in half like a twig to the fibres within. It sank to the floor, blanketing the ground in a dark cloud. The men looked to the skies and saw what was the epitome of my power. A large orb stood in place of the column, ominously hovering up and down and pulsing with darkness as it did so. I felt my fingers part, the orb doing the same in mid air.

"**YOU FOOLS! CAUGHT IN YOUR OWN LITTLE REBELLION TO FATHOM WHAT YOU ARE UP AGAINST!" **

I saw their fear, ripping from inside like a monster in its cage.

"**YOU MEDDLE WITH RADJA…AND YOU RISK YOUR LIVES TO THE DARKNESS! AWAKEN, MY BEAST! RWRAHHHH!" **

My eyes backed into their sockets, muscles tensing rapidly and binding together. I felt my hair fly behind my head and my tunic part like the pages of a book. The air collided with my bare flesh. The orb began to flash. To shed. It was some butterfly out of its cocoon. Its wings hung with the black souls of its taken. Its head and eyes shone with no mercy, the lack of remorse that spread over mortals like a tide.

"**AAAAAARGGGGGGGH!" **

My arms thrust forward as the butterfly flew forward, towards the men who ran from the door at the corner of my eye. It was little bother. The Rite would kill them all. And it did. I pushed, harder than I ever had, and felt the spirit overwhelm those of the human soldiers. What power that ravaged through my mind! My soul strengthened with every taking. But then I heard it, surely the demise of the Castle in which I stood. The walls could not withstand the Rite. Nothing could.

The soft crumble of the bricks caught my ear drums and I felt a layer of dust cascade down upon my face. It was time to leave. I opened the tome and signalled the butterfly back to its domain. It dissipated, small balls of Dark energy touching the book's pages as I drew it to a close. I felt my feet lean against the destruction below as I swept my right arm back backward, letting the blue wave of energy that emanated from the motion swallow me whole. It felt like a breeze, brushing against my face and body until I could sense it no more. Only the familiar wash of Sun down my back and the true sense of tranquillity interrupted only by the soft serenade of birds and bees that filtered in the air.

**I was home. **


End file.
